Gallagher said he wishes Lucic all the best in everything except winning another Cup.

Gallagher must have been happy after Game 1 of the Cup final, which ended early Thursday morning with the Blackhawks’ Andrew Shaw scoring on a double deflection at 12:08 of the third overtime period for a 4-3 win over the Bruins.

Game 2 of the Cup final is Saturday night in Chicago (8 p.m., CBC, RDS).

Things got busy on here since the Drewiske signing was announced. This is not a signing that should have people creating D pairings for next season, it’s a depth signing. This reminds me of last year when Nokie was signed, how many minutes did he play last year.

I think we see at least one multi player trade at the draft…..MB is clearly not looking short term or he would have moved a pick or two at the deadline to strengthen ( personally thought he should have)…now glad he didn’t though seeing how the physical game won out this year.
HE has likely been given a 3-5 year window to make his mark given his approach thus far. I think it fair to say he is assessing every level of the organization and some prospects may be on the move as well…becuase they may not fit his vision depsite them being good prospects. I trust what he is up to because it appears he has a mid to longer term plan. I still expect a playoff team but I think he makes his mark in the next few weeks and by JUly 8th or 9th we shoulod have good idea of his vision. We know the team has several smallish skilled guys who can be NHLers…we have a Norris Trophy dman, 2 young and big centermen, some solid vets, goaletending is above average,etc. How is he going to land that toughness that is needed as every team wants it? Gonna be intersting…the TInordi deal looks better now moving up to grab him because long term I think he addresses part of that.
Can’t wait to see what he does

So, as it’s already been said, Drewiske re-upped for almost the league minimum.

Despite what everyone’s said, Drewiske was good in his own right this year with us. Because he’s big, people want him to be a beast in front of the net and stuff. Can’t change the fact that that’s not his game.

What is his game though, is eerily similar to Josh Gorges. The only difference is he’s bigger, and appeared more effective when I saw them both this year. As HH suggested, it would be a major help if Gorges were dealt. You end up saving about 4 mill on an arguably better player.

As I said, I see him more like Gorges. By no stretch of the imagination is Gorges a physical, mean d-man. He’s the kind that’s usually positionally sound and that makes good defensive plays by blocking shots or using the stick. Drewiske is much the same, could even be better if he figures out the system a little better.

Of course, I see him as a bottom pair d-man just like the rest of us on here 😛

A buy out is a last available option if a player can’t be traded (Kaberle, Gomez), we shouldn’t be buying out players that have trade value. Gorges would fetch a fairly hefty return IMO, he’s a very solid player.

Gorges has solid quotes when answering reporters questions. This past season, he was below average, making tons of errors. Hopefully, the union crap is behind him and he can focus on playing hockey again. Otherwise, trade him for whatever. No hefty return there.

Makes no sense signing Drewiski,
but more sense that Price and Georges for Dallas’s #1 pick. That trade only thought of by a Price hater. Oh no tHAT’s right , bring back Halak the 3rd stringer from the Blues to play goal. Instant upgrade, NOT.

Trying to make sense with Drewiske`s signature and there must be something else planned cause the habs do not have many contracts left available to be signed to stay within the limit of 50 that they are allowed to have for the big team and for the Dogs…

But again answer this question. Who will take Price`s place ? Easy to get rid of him but nobody dares to suggest someone that realisticly could replace him and match his level of play cause whatever you can say he still is a young and good goaler that lead his team to 2nd place in the conference. Price is staying ,it`s obvious, they even will hire a new coach to work with him. So deal with it.

We’re not in the room or close to the players, so I imagine there is a good reason behind this signing.

With Kaberle and maybe Weber leaving… plus Krob makes a good point about Gorges below.

The posters who are blaming Bergevin for this are the same group that brought us such classic insights as “Cut PK Loose: The Clever Salary-Negotiator’s Guide To Being A Successful GM,” and “If This Team Doesn’t Sign Zenon Konopka, I’m Getting A Reduced NHL Centre-Ice Package In Protest.”

I think he has to improve a little bit. The fact that they had to go with Tinordi in the playoffs suggests that he may be a marginal NHLer. He has some nice qualities; size, good character guy that fits with MB’s philosophy, he is composed with the puck. With a two year contract and a regular shift, maybe he can take his game to the next level.

I watched Drewiskie with a very open mind… I, like many here I think, wasn’t overly impressed. If he’s supposed to be a replacement for Emelin until he’s back, the early beginning to the season could be very ugly.

MB needs to retool the D-core badly… I’ll be very interested to see how he handles it this summer.

_________________________________

“Obviously it would be great, but they don’t really hang conference titles in this rink. They raise Stanley Cup banners.” – Carey Price

Based on an interview with Dudley I heard last year, one of his philosophies is that it is better to fill your roster with veterans, but if a young guy plays his way onto the team in training camp, you then deal with that problem. It is much better to be forced into trading, waiving, or demoting a veteran than to find out at the end of September that one of your young guys has regressed and is not ready and you have a big hole in the line up.

I am paraphrasing of course. Dudley gave the example of how Burmistrov played his way onto the Atlanta roster, so they had to make room for him.

Subban
Markov
Gorges
Emelin
Tinordi
Diaz
Bouillon
Beaulieu
That already looks deep to me and without Weber or Kaberle in play. I have to believe he is moving one of the guys above. BOth Tinordiu and Beaulieu looked capable of playing if need be.

2013 was a short season in which we still dressed 12 different dman. Emelin misses the start of the season and Tinordi + Beaulieu are still young. So for just over the league minimum this signing makes sense. I also think a trade involving Diaz or Gorges is not completely unlikely.

Drewiskie signing makes me wonder even more about Josh Gorges role in MB plans….Drewiskie is a lesser version of Gorges but with Emelin and Tinordi as tw o stay at home guys, PK and Diaz offensively along with Markov…..interesting. I think it very possible we could see a deal involving Gorges very soon…MB has to be up to something because depth is already there unless he believes Drewiskie can play the Gorges role much more affordably…or worse he believes Emelin will not be around next season or may not recover?

*** Can anyone say for certain whether or not you can trade a guy to another team with the intention of that other team using their compliance buyout on that player? ***

You may be on to something there krob, you reasoning makes sense. As for the compliance buyouts, I can’t say for certain, but thought I had heard some of the talking heads a while ago mentioning trades for that same reason. I think it is perfectly fine to do so, but not 100% sure.

MONTREAL – Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin announced Thursday the signing of defenseman Davis Drewiske to a two-year contract extension (2013-14 and 2014-15). As per club policy, financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“We are happy to have come to an agreement with Davis on a two-year contract. He brings experience and most importantly depth to our group of defensemen,” said Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin.

In 29 games with the Los Angeles Kings and Canadiens in 2012-13, Drewiske raked up seven points (2 goals, 5 assists). One of his goals was tallied on the powerplay. He served 14 penalty minutes and maintained a +3 plus/minus differential. Drewiske played an average of 15:11 per game.

The 6’02’’ and 220 lbs rearguard has recorded 25 points (5 goals, 20 assists) in 135 NHL career regular season games. Drewiske, 28, has served 67 penalty minutes.

A native of Hudson, Wisconsin, Drewiske was acquired from the Kings on April 2, 2013 in return for a fifth round pick at the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.

wtf???

_________________________________

“Obviously it would be great, but they don’t really hang conference titles in this rink. They raise Stanley Cup banners.” – Carey Price

Is it a two way contract? It did not say on the habs website so I am assuming a one way deal. Hopefully MB will make some trades cause to be honest I would rather seen one of the kids in Hamilton start over Drewskie. He was benched in the playoffs and Tinordi played over him….

One thing we should have learned in 8 years of the cap… almost no team ever gets screwed as predicted by all the amateur capologists. There has only been one team that had to be broken up due to the cap and that was the 2010 Blackhawks. Even then, look where they are today. And the only reason they got messed up was that 6 million in bonuses for Toews and Kane combined were triggered by a cup win. And this was on top of Dale Tallon’s RFA screw up which really did damage. If it takes a bad fax machine and a cup win to blow up a team… oh well, you got that cup win.

The Flyers are supposedly always about to be screwed by the cap but never are. The Rangers too… Boston… etc.

I haven’t seen any of these teams unable to get their big name FAs due to the cap.

The point is that those big stars have demonstrated that they can’t get it done on their own. Upgrading their defence and goaltending will not be cheap. Do they have the money to do it now? Time will tell.

But those 2010 Chicago Blackhawks are PRECISELY why one should raise an eyebrow at the size of the Malkin contract. There are a ton of similarities between the two teams in terms of cap space and players that are due substantial raises. I just don’t see them being able to hold on to everybody.

The Crosby-Malkin led Penguins have failed to make the Finals now for four straight seasons since winning the Stanley Cup in 2009. Their defence and goaltending are in shambles, and they almost certain to lose at least one of their key role players (Dupuis) due to cap issues this year. But next summer will be the real test for Shero.

Which team has better value? I’ll take the Blackhawks trio over the Penguins duo any day. That balance is why the Blackhawks are in the Stanley Cup finals now.

The Blackhawks had to rebuild their depth after losing players like Ladd, Byfuglien, and Campbell.

The Penguins are going to lose guys like Dupuis because they can’t afford the raise that those guys will be due. Unlike the Blackhawks, the Penguins haven’t seemingly found a great stable of youngsters to come up and fill the gap of the guys that they lose, forcing them to use trades to secure those players.

The Blackhawks are set on defence, where they have invested heavy money. The Penguins defence was a mess, and they are going to be in tough to find the money they need to buy the players that are required to fix that mess.

Been awhile since I commented on the site. I agree the Murray is what is needed on the D. I think it would be nice if MB could trade Diaz to NYI for Niederreiter. It would give Snow another offensive Swiss D and Nino would look real good with Patch’s & DD.

I do think the Cap will go up significantly, attendance and TV ratings were up throughout the States. A Boston Chicago Cup final will also probably produce good ratings for the US networks. I am actually surprised they got Malkin for under 10mill per season. Worst case, I think he is still very tradeable if for some reason the Pens decide to go that route.

But they did have to sign Malkin, regardless of whether they intended to keep him long term, due to cap reasons.

MAn I wish the HAbs had landed Hossa….that guy is a beast out there….he may be the best defensive WINGER in the league and should get Selke consideration. Every time I see the Hawks play he reminds me how good he is…..for a guy who is known as a scorer he is very underrrated. Only centers ever get any praise for being defensive forwards anymore but he is fantastic…..his work ethic is off the charts as are his smarts and his willingness to dedicate that much effort on the backcheck as a winger requiring plenty of stops and starts and extra battles,etc is really something special.

The trading of Hossa days after signing him to an extension is what made Chara walk for nothing. The new contract was signed in good faith and no trade talks had occurred at all involving Hossa or his agent. He believed he was staying in Ottawa, he and Chara were extremely close friends on that team. Upon the trade, Chara told Ottawa mgmt he was pissed and would not be re-signing with team. They then made up the BS story that they had to choose between Redden and Chara.

John Muckler was the brainchild in Ottawa at the time. As I recall the media and fans in Ottawa had convinced themselves that Hossa was a playoff choker. So Muckler righted that by getting rid of the European for a good Canadian boy in Heatley. Muckler was a complete idiot, and to me this is just more ammunition for how little he had to do with the Oilers success.

Two guys who always seem to be on great teams…I wonder why that is? Guys like those two are true leaders with their play and it is a shame for Sens fans they chose a different direction because any team that could Hossa and Chara is a contender by default…their two way play is that good. You could put those tow on the Edmonton Oilers and you have an instant top 3 team…this year. They are glue guys if ever there was such a thing.

The reality is that the Habs had ZERO chance of landing a UFA like Hossa because they were not considered a contender. In a few years when the Habs have filled in the holes in their roster, they might have a chance with player of that calibre.

It wouldn’t surprise if they traded Letang in a deal similar to the Staal trade to Carolina last year. Pens have some great D coming along and unless Letang was really hurt, his defensive play was exposed.

I would be surprised to see the cap go up appreciably. It is going to depend on a huge spike in revenues, and I’m not sure the NHL has any more tricks up its sleeve (like outdoor games) to help that spike. We’ll see, but they have a lot of younger guys that are coming off entry level deals or who are due for big raises. Fitting all that into the remaining cap space is going to be a nightmare.

I think you have to listen to Shero. I never read or heard anyone say the man was anything but up front. If he says he has faith in his coach and extends him, if he extends Malkin, if he says he has faith in Fleury, then what didn’t he say? He said the team will change, that they have to sit down and sort it out, that FA, UFA, the draft are all parts of it and that Letang (and Malkin at that time)is under contract for another year “they’re not going anywhere”.

I think they are screwed. How are they going to pay Letang (he’s probably looking at $5-6 M on his next contract)? Chris Kunitz and Brandon Sutter are also looking at big raises next summer.

I would love to see Bergevin kick the tires on a Tyler Kennedy trade. Kennedy was very frustrated with his diminished role this season, and he’s a good top-9 forward. Pittsburgh is going to have to load up on cheap players, so they might be willing to take younger prospects for Kennedy.

Cap will go up by the difference between Malkins old deal and enw one…LFuery can go if need be, they could get a high pick, contributing guy or two for Neal. They have the compliance buyouts if need be. They will do what they always do…build around those two and LEtang will be added to the mix instead of Staal. They will be a powerhouse for a long time.

But I think that is the point Ed. Everybody points to the increasing cap, but that also means that salaries are going to increase for anybody that is a regular.

Sutter at $2.06 M this season was a good deal for them. But he’s a checking line centre that can chip in 20 goals. David Bolland milked that skill for a $3.375 M contract 5 years ago. Sutter is worth the equivalent of Bolland, in my eyes, and the ensuing 5 years since the contract was signed would make $3.5-4 M reasonable.

The problem for the Penguins is that they can’t deal all their veteran role players. Dupuis is 95% gone this year, following in Talbot’s shoes. Like you say, Kunitz would be overpaid at $5 M, but they haven’t found a ton of cheaper wingers that can play with Crosby or Malkin.

Their farm system isn’t exactly teeming with good offensive prospects. So letting veteran players that overprice themselves go and hoping to fill those spots with cheaper players might not necessarily work.

Great organizations usually draft well, yet sometimes the last key ingredients are via a UFA signing (Hossa) or a trade that ends up being a theft.

Here’s hoping our gang can pull one of these off.
It was a ‘youth for youth’ trade.

Back in December 2005, then Flyers GM Bobbie Clarke traded Patrick Sharp and Eric Meloche to the Hawks for Matt Ellison and a 3rd Round pick.

Sharp turned out to be one of the best Left Wings in the game, yet here is what Clarke had to say at that time and reason for the trade:
“….He can play center and wing. We always felt that Patrick was a better center. We have lots of centers.”

Even then Coach Hitchcock chimed in:
” “Patrick is a natural center, not a wing, and we have too many centers,” Hitchcock said. “That’s all this is about. We had too many centers.”

“This kid can play,” Hitchcock said of Ellison.
Ellison ended up playing only 7 NHL games after that trade.

That 3rd Round pick acquired by the Flyers in 2006 ended up in our Habs hands as we traded our 3rd and 4th Round picks to Philly and moved up and selected… Ryan White.
Philly ended up with 2 duds.

How about Dennis Seidenberg and Matthew Bartkowski in exchange for Craig Weller, Byron Bitz, and a second round draft pick (Alexander Petrovic). They had to sign him after the trade, making it a bit risky, but it paid off, especially at $3.2M/year.

With the NHL now mentioning the possibility of moving the Phoenix franchise one of 2 things have happened. Either the NHL has quietly behind the scenes settled with Moyes, or his lawyers are getting ready for a nice juicy lawsuit against the League which told him the franchise was not allowed to be moved, thus making Moyes lose hundreds of millions of dollars. Wouldn’t be surprised if Wayne attaches his name to that lawsuit given he lost his payout from his contract as a result.

Why don’t they just do what they did in days of old and burn the joint down and let a new franchise rise in its place (mind you, back then they didn’t have to worry about insurance fraud investigators).

One thing I noticed the Blackhawks doing that neither the Habs nor the Penguins did in the playoffs: they timed their shots better to coordinate with players going to the net for rebounds and tip ins. The overtime goal was a classic playoff-type goal. This is a function of great coaching and great execution by the players. This is an area the Habs need to address in the off-season, as I thought the Habs did not do enough to generate offense both 5-on-5 and on the powerplay. Therrien was a defenseman, so this may be a blindspot for him, it may have to come from the assistants.

The loss of Horton could be huge. That line was playing at a completely different level than everyone else. Boston shows its depth again by moving Seguin up, resulting in a still fairly potent line, but it won’t be clicking as well. They are not getting much scoring from anywhere else, so they need to make adjustments or they are in trouble.

After tripping Seidenberg, Shaw skated hard to get to the front of the net and had to make a hard stop to get into a strategic position. Haven’t seen that much effort before to get to a spot where a shot could nail your eye or teeth or jaw. Impressive.

Can’t believe I made it to the end last night. Usually ,I’m passed out by then,but my booze consumption has dropped a bit since the Habs were snuffed. I will be ramping it up soon for Bass season however.

A major change in corporate culture occurred for the ‘Hawks when the venerable but cantankerous (persnickety?) Bill Wirtz passed away and son Rocky (Balboa?) took over. Among other things, BW disallowed local telecasts of games.

Rollie the Goalie has a point or two. Last night’s game could have been one-sided either way if either goalie had any lapses of concentration, and they each kept it up for 5 1/2 periods. The younger Crawford is looking in the rear-view mirror in the competition to be an Olympian.

Last Night’s game could also have been different if the D kept letting players go to the net unopposed and stand there, too.

Rollie doesn’t have a point. I think he has an axe to grind…

(Not saying the goalies last night were lucky or anything, or that Price hasn’t had struggles, just saying that there are so many components to success and failure and that trying to pin it on one single thing, as often happens, isn’t fair).

Come on Luke, its too late, time for pitchforks and torches. It is clear already that if we have any other goalie in the league but Price that our team wins fights, scores more, forechecks harder, stops playing a swarm defence, has less injuries and most importantly suddenly have the best coaching in the league leading to Cup after Cup after Cup.

Join the gang! I found a good deal on the torches let me know if you need some.

I don’t get to see the Hawks, especially this year, that often. Would I ever love to have Seabrook or Bickell in a Habs jersey! That team is the perfect balance of of speed, size and grit. Very impressive.

Hawks are the new Detroit! The most impressive aspect of Hawk’s play that I have seen in this playoffs is that they hit all over the ice. It’s like watching the game between Gainey and Mikita .. they probably had a hit on every inch of the ice that night. And lots of shoulder to shoulder.. beautiful hockey hits. And very rarely does the hit take them out of the flow of the play.

Prust could be a very good hockey player if he had support in the fight department.
He had the 7th most fights in the NHL last year with 10 as he always sticks up for his mates.
At 6’2″ 195 he is far from a heavyweight and will end up with shoulder/arm/hand and possible concussion issues if we don’t get him some help.
If the Habs do nothing, they are doing a disservice to both Prust and the team.

Good point. I’ve found two sources listing Prust at 6’2″ and two at 6’0″. I don’t think he’s as tall as Moen or Emelin who are 6’2″. Prust isn’t a heavyweight, he just fights them. As a poster noted yesterday, he didn’t land a single clean shot on Lucic, he just prevented a Komisarek-beatdown.

Julien has nothing else to try. He is a one trick show. His team lost and that is his “go to” when the bruins lose. Must have been embellishment by the opponents! His schtick is getting very tired and old. The cronies running the league should fine him and tell him to drop it and move on.

Cato reporting for duty, where’s Green Hornet?
Coachspeak, and TVspeak. He wanted to call him an a-hole but had to dumb it down. Just like Lindy Ruff really wanted to say “F’n” joke instead of “What a joke!”

Actually thought the Phoenix Coyotes situation was going to be settled before that game ended this morning. Made it until the puck drop in 3OT and fell asleep. Was very relieved to find out Hawks won. Unfortunately the Yotes appear to be alive still, temporarily…..

” Within two weeks, the NHL requires a financial answer from the near bankrupt City of Glendale.

Yes, it’s certainly means it’s possible the team won’t play there next year,” said Daly. “Look, we’re in the short strokes with Phoenix now.”

“It’s possible the team won’t play there next year,” said Gary Bettman”

By next year he meant this coming season 2013-14!
“…. the NHL is delaying its schedule for next year, for this and other reasons, before determining what happens next.”

If a move to Seattle…
” The team would have to play at Key Arena, which would only seat roughly 11,000 for hockey. Daly has indicated in the past that it would be a suitable short term home for a franchise.”

Haven’t heard much scuttle from Seattle in recent weeks, but perhaps that is indeed where they end up. Given the imbalance of West/East teams in realignment it makes no sense to have the Yotes move East to Quebec City.

I seem to recall the Flames first season in a tiny barn, the Senators of course played in what looked like a gymnasium for their first season as well I think.

Biggest salary in those days were Wayne and Mario at around 1.5 mill. So the Calgary Corral and Ottawa Civic Centre were not deathbeds with their meager capacities. The Corral was a venerable venue for Stampede Wrestling. Bare your teeth and the big gap Mad Dog Vachon!

Some other crazy stats from last night:
– 117 total Shots on Goal – Hossa had 10
– 120 total Hits
– 63 total Blocked Shots
– 6 total minor penalties – 3 were for ‘too many men on the ice’
– 52 total shifts for Jonathan Toews playing 36:24.

The refs call the game the way it used to be played pre 2005 and is completely different vs. the season.
The wars going on in front of the net would not even come close to being tolerated during the season.

Bob McKenzie of TSN said the 2 refs should be part of the 3 stars for calling an exceptional game. I fail to understand the need for 2 refs if the only calls that should be made are two you mentioned. That could be done by the two goal judges.